Quest for Camelot was an animated feature created by Warner Bros. in 1998. It was (sort of) based on the book "The King's Damsel" by Vera Chapman, and featured the singing talents of Céline Dion, Bryan White and others. Unfortunately, the respectable talent gathered for this film couldn't overcome its troubled production, and Quest for Camelot ended up being a commercial and critical failure.
As you can probably surmise from my opening statement, I was actually looking forward to Quest for Camelot back in the day. Though Disney's Hercules was a source of mixed emotions for me, I still enjoyed the studios animated take on Greek Mythology (despite its numerous liberties) and welcomed Warner Bros. venture into Arthurian lore. Sadly, the story - and characters - of Quest for Camelot were far too conventional and its themes far too shallow for the film to work.
The story of Quest for Camelot goes something like this. Kaylee is a happy young girl who wants nothing more than to follow in her father’s footsteps and become a knight of Camelot. Even after the death of her father - by the traitorous Sir Ruber - Kaylee continues to dream of the day she will be knighted, despite being stuck at home doing chores. Ten years later, everything changes when Ruber sends his griffin to steal Excalibur from Arthur, a task he partially succeeds in when the fabled sword is lost in the Forbidden Forest. Things only get worse when Ruber forces Kaylee's mother to hide his magically altered soldiers in her wagons so he can gain entry into Camelot undetected and storm the castle. Faced with this pending invasion, Kaylee makes the difficult choice to seek out Excalibur within the Forbidden Forest and return it to Arthur. Fortunately our young heroine finds help in the form of Garrett, a blind hermit who has uncanny survival skills and a silver winged falcon. Together these two would-be knights must brave numerous dangers and return Excalibur to Arthur before Ruber finds the sword himself and destroys Camelot.
In and of itself this story works fine as an animated feature vehicle. The journey to retrieve Excalibur for King Arthur before Ruber seizes control of both the sword and Camelot is all well and good. Unfortunately, the characters that make up this movie fail to draw the viewer into the story, and thus the plot neither engages nor interests its audience. Let's start with Kaylee. Kaylee is one of those "plucky" young heroines who's determined to prove herself by chasing her dreams and just so happens to fall in love along the way. Besides the fact that this was an incredibly overused archetype in animation during the 1990s; Kaylee doesn't really ever "prove" herself at all during her journey. Time and time again, Kaylee finds herself captured or in need of help to escape danger while rarely contributing anything of value to her comrades; her incompetence even gets Garrett hurt at one point in the story. It's only during the film's climax that Kaylee really does anything right; and even then it seems like her success stems more from serendipitous luck than it does actual skill or cleverness. Compare this to Disney's Mulan - which was released that very same year - and you'll see just how pathetic Kaylee really is. In Mulan you have a very naive girl disguised as a solider growing into a strong woman capable of holding her own against anyone, both intellectually and physically. It's Mulan who stops the Hun army, it's Mulan that comes up with a plan to save the Emperor of China, it's Mulan that takes down Shan Yu in one-on-one combat. By contrast, Kaylee just looks clueless and weak.
Garrett fares better thanks to his background as a blind hermit; but whatever characterization gained through these character traits is negated by the underdeveloped emotions created by them. What I mean is Garrett's handicap doesn't really hamper him all that much in the film, so his frustration and bitterness seem very misplaced when used. Had the story done more with Garrett's flashbacks - like showing how difficult it was for him to adjust to being blind at first, or reveal how others saw him as a burden - it could have really solidified the characters emotional state and driven home the film's theme of acceptance. Instead the story glosses over the subject and a lot of character building opportunities for both Garrett and Kaylee are lost.
Secondary characters are no better either. The two-headed dragon Devon and Corwall - as well as Bladebeak - are horribly contrived forms of comedic relief. Kaylee's mother is completely bland. Arthur and Merlin barley show up in the story. Even the film's villain Ruber lacks convincing motivation and shifts between silly and menacing far too often to be taken seriously. Basically, none of the characters in this story work in their current forms. That's not to say that they couldn't work - in fact I'm pretty sure a good rewrite of this story would fix many of the problems I've mentioned - but as it is now, Quest for Camelot's characters are a joke.
Additional writing issues include way too many pop-culture references to other movies, and a very forced romance between Kaylee and Garrett. In short, Quest for Camelot's writing is a hodgepodge mess of half-baked ideas and studio "tinkering". Instead of trying to tell their own story, the people running this film were clearly attempting to ape the Disney model without understanding it. The end result is a shallow, formulaic story bursting with fluff where there should be substance.
From a visual standpoint, Quest for Camelot has a number of problems as well. Though the film has some quality moments, much of the character design just doesn't work and the CGI can be downright awful at times. Take - for example - the design work done on many of the male characters in the movie. Outside of Ruber and his henchmen - who are hulking brutes - most of the men in this film have very awkward builds. Instead of looking nimble and strong, the knights of Camelot - as well as Arthur and Garrett - have large heads, thin waists and strangely proportioned hands and feet. The problem with this somewhat gangly appearance is that it prevents these heroes from ever looking very heroic. I'm not saying they should all be muscle-bound supermen mind you, just lay off the Popeye-esque forearms a little. Fortunately, the female character designs - while a little generic - don't repeat this mistake.
Another issue with the films look can be found in the computer generated images. Given the time period in which this movie was created, one should expect to find some pretty bad CGI. That said the computer animated ogre in Quest for Camelot is one of the worst looking CGI constructs to ever grace a theatrically released animated feature. Completely different in style than its traditionally animated surroundings, this creature shatters the visual illusion necessary for animated films to work, and completely takes you out of the moment. Thankfully, the movies creators were more fastidious with the use of computer generated imagery throughout the rest of the film. Outside of the aforementioned ogre, only the CGI trapdoor at the end of the story looks out of place.
On a more positive note, the traditional animation in Quest for Camelot is mostly smooth and pleasing to watch; there are even some nice ideas like the revealing of Kaylee's face when Garrett touches it. I also liked the films background design and execution. While the illustrations done for the environments in Quest for Camelot don't even come close to what Disney was doing at this time, they still manage to look feature film worthy, and have a nice Celtic feel appropriate to the story. The movies color pallet, however, is a bit of a mixed bag. Some of the environments have a lush and vibrant color scheme that can be attractive at times. Unfortunately, these same backgrounds can also become over saturated and even garish on occasion.
Ultimately, I thought the visuals of Quest for Camelot - while occasionally good - looked inconsistent and rushed. Though I don't have any insider knowledge regarding the films production, I think the movies creative staff would have benefited greatly from a stable, well thought out production plan. Instead, the visuals - much like the story - appear to be underdeveloped, uneven and hurried.
As for the films voice acting only Gary Oldman really stands out in a positive way. His portrayal of Ruber - though occasionally over the top - was very distinct and energetic, qualities that were sorely lacking in the stories other main characters. Performed by Jessalyn Gilsig and Cary Elwes, I found the voices of Kaylee and Garrett both mundane and forgettable. It's not that the actors were bad - because they weren't - they just didn't bring any energy to their roles, like they were just going through the motions. Given the problematic situation regarding the film's writing, these underwhelming performances do nothing to help Quest for Camelot.
Since this film - and many others - sought to imitate the Disney animated feature formula, it should also come as no surprise that Quest for Camelot has a plethora of songs. While I've never been a big fan of musicals, I must admit that a couple of these numbers actually work pretty well. My favorites would be "I Stand Alone" performed by Bryan White and "Looking Through Your Eyes". Both of these songs provide more characterization for Garrett and Kaylee than most of the films lackluster dialog. Strangely enough, "The Prayer" - a song performed by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli during Kaylee's initial escape from Ruber - was nominated for an Academy Award, despite being incredibly misplaced in the film. I say this because the intensity of the chase onscreen feels like it should be set to an orchestra. Instead, we get a very soft and calming number that in no way matches the excitement, and desperation born from Kaylee's flight to freedom. Otherwise, I think the soundtrack to this movie holds up pretty well, despite - once again - falling well short of what Disney was doing at this same time.
When you put it all together, Quest for Camelot just isn't a very good movie. Though the music is mostly solid, the characters are either cliché or underdeveloped and the animation is sadly uneven. Obviously children won't have a problem with most of the issues I've detailed in this review, but I suspect older viewers will find themselves bored and uninterested with the films story and execution. Given the plethora of quality animated family features from just the 1990s alone, I don't really see a single reason for anyone to bother with Quest for Camelot.
